How bureaucracy slows down the energy transition

Dark side of the energy transition

Certification perfectionism and permitting requirements are blocking the green transition.

Munich, Dusseldorf Michael Gerwing no longer understands the world. When politicians in the news call for an even faster expansion of renewable energies because of the war in Ukraine, he prefers to turn off the television.

The reason for his despair sparkles ready to be fed in on the roofs of his production halls in Holdorf, Lower Saxony, not far from Osnabrück. “We have equipped all buildings with solar systems. All we had to do was flip the switch and green electricity would flow here.” But the 52-year-old managing partner is allowed to do that not from the Gerwing company.

Gerwing uses a cell phone camera to guide him around the company premises, where his third-generation family manufactures paving stones and terrace slabs. Past a concrete mixing tower, the warehouse and a stack of pallets. Gerwing has invested 800,000 euros in its photovoltaic system with an output of 700 kilowatts (kW).

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